PORTLAND, Me. — Miles Norris finally settled the debate over his height. Sort of.
“People say I’m 6-7, 6-10,” Norris told CLNS Media/CelticsBlog. “I’d probably say I’m 6-9. I know I ain’t no 6-7. I swear I’m taller than that.”
The notion that Boston added a center-sized shooter earlier this month turned some heads in the fan base. In reality, the newest Celtic stands 6-7 1/2, and 6-9 with shoes. Still, he’s strong for his size alongside his 7-1 wingspan. Boston waived 2024 second-round pick Anton Watson to add Norris before the two-way signing deadline. Norris emerged as one of the best volume three-point shooters in the G-League with the Memphis Hustle into his second pro season. Boston signed him to a two-year, two-way contract, setting up continued development into next season.
Norris received the news awaiting his connecting flight from Santa Cruz back to Memphis. As soon as he he arrived, he packed as much as he could and joined Boston two weeks ago. He found himself playing four minutes in garbage time days later against the Sixers, his first NBA game, before joining Maine for seven G-League games. He’s averaging 13.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while shooting 43.6% from the field and 37% from three.
“We expect more of the same of what he’s been doing,” Maine GM Jarell Christian told CLNS/CelticsBlog. “His whole career, he’s been a pretty good three-point shooter. He brings the athleticism, as you all saw today, but he’s just a guy that’s got a tremendous upside. A guy that with his size, who can shoot the three ball as well as he does, I think it’ll be a no-brainer for us to try to get him on a two-way, and then see if we can get him to the Boston Celtics roster in the long-term, but the athleticism is definitely an NBA skill that he has and his shooting the basketball is unique at that size.”
Norris’ shot looked pure on Sunday, starting 3-for-5 from three in four minutes with the makes not even grazing the rim. The longer, more heavily contested threes came up short. While Delaware didn’t challenge his defense much, that’s part of his game that’ll need to develop the most if he wants to reach the NBA. Norris marks the third big shooting wing project the franchise has brought through Maine following Sam Hauser and Drew Peterson.
Watson, who struggled to rise far above 30% three-point shooting and didn’t thrive as a switching defender the way the team hoped, projected as a smaller center whose size leaned more toward the four. Boston kept its eye on various G-League options, per usual, before the two-way deadline sped up the process on making the change.
The NBA didn’t enforce that date as strictly during the seasons impacted by COVID-19. Back then, Boston could convert Hauser to a standard contract before the playoffs and replaced him with Matt Ryan on a two-way, who joined the team on the sideline and in practice for the Finals run.
For Norris, one regular season game remains with Maine before he’ll key their postseason run alongside J.D. Davison, Peterson and others on a team that emerged late as the G-League’s best. He scored 20 points with nine rebounds and three assists in Sunday’s win, which clinched Maine’s third straight postseason appearance, with Davison and Peterson away on Boston’s west coast trip.
“It’s been a little slow process,” Norris said. “Trying to figure out my game with this team, but over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been getting a lot more chemistry with the guys, on the court and off the court, so I feel really good about going into the playoffs with this team. It’s always good just learning from the veterans and the great guys that they have on that team. Great to be around that, watching some of the guys, taking some stuff from them, seeing how they approach the game, how they approach every day, workouts … obviously, talked to Payton just from being in college together. He’s always talking to me, trying to give me tips.”
Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images
Norris began his college career on Payton Pritchard’s 2018-19 Oregon Ducks team that reached the NCAA Tournament and lost in the Sweet 16 to eventual champion Virginia. Pritchard, a junior, led the team alongside Louis King and and Bol Bol, while Norris logged only 10 minutes per game and returned to community college in San Francisco following the year, but they spent enough time together to grow cordial and reconnect naturally upon becoming teammates again.
This late emergence for the now 24-year-old might’ve allowed the Celtics to acquire another unsung find. Norris went undrafted before playing in two Summer Leagues with the Hawks, then joining Memphis. He also played five games for Cagdas Bodrum Spor in Turkey last year. Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics leaned into his shooting impacting the team eventually, while the organization’s professionalism and closeness stood out to Norris immediately.
“(Pritchard) has been the main guy for me, being one of the main guys on the team helping me get acclimated and situated here,” he said. “Obviously, he was a little older, but we had a really good team, chemistry-wise, at Oregon as well. So, I hung out with him a little bit, worked out together, so it’s good to see him, good to be back on the same team as him as well. It’s good to watch him out there on the court, just growing and playing the way I know he can play.”
